General Motors expects to build 500,000 vehicles with some level of electrification in the next five years. Many of them will have GM's eAssist light electrification system.
Despite poor sales of the Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle, GM says it is committed to building hundreds of thousands of electrified vehicles in the next five years.
Mary Barra, senior vice president of global product development for GM, said besides plug-in technology such as in the Volt, GM will also add its eAssist mild hybrid system to more models. In fact, by 2017, GM expects to have as many as 500,000 vehicles on the road with some form of electrification.
“The plug-in offers a unique opportunity to change the way people commute,” Mary Barra, senior vice president of Global Product Development told media attending the GM Electrification Experience in San Francisco. “Plug-based solutions will play a significant role in our technology portfolio going forward.”
The plug-in Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle, introduced in 2010, has become more than a statement for GM in the electric vehicle space, Barra said by satellite from Detroit. She said GM is committed expanding the Volt’s technology. GM has already announced the next vehicle to use what it calls Voltec, the Cadillac ELR.
GM has a lot at stake with the Volt technology, while others, particularly Ford and Toyota, have concentrated on traditional hybrids.
Barra said GM has learned a lot from the development of the Volt. That experience will help it when it builds the just-announced Chevrolet Spark EV, which will go on sale next year.
But most of the 500,000 electrified vehicles GM will build by 2017 will feature eAssist, a simple system that uses a small electric motor to supplement the gasoline engine, but is cheaper to make than the system in traditional hybrids such as the Toyota Prius.
Current GM vehicles featuring eAssist are the Buick LaCross and Regal and the Chevrolet Malibu. The 2014 Chevrolet Impala will also offer an eAssist model.
“In fact, our future portfolio calls for eAssist to be on hundreds of thousands of GM vehicles annually by 2017,” Barra said.